Guidelines for Out-of-School Provisions
by Karen Rogers, Ph.D.
Excerpted from Re-Forming Gifted Education

The previous sections describe the optimal programs, structures, and curriculum that gifted and talented children need in their school program for full development of their abilities. The same structures can provide guidelines to help you focus on what educational opportunities you might choose to provide for your child outside of the school program.

1. Provide advanced learning opportunities, regardless of your child’s age, in the specific area or areas in which your child’s talents and interests lie.

2. Provide opportunities for socialization with others of like ability or interests.

3. Provide opportunities for socialization with a mix of adults and children of varying abilities and ages.

4. Find ways for your child to understand his own identity and uniqueness.

5. Provide your child with some of the “classics” of literature, philosophy, art, music, and theater.

6. Provide a variety of experiences that build fine-motor skills, dexterity, and spatial visualization.

7. Provide experiences that require memorization and improving the ability to remember.

8. Help your child learn to communicate precisely and expressively.

9. Teach your child a variety of problem-solving strategies that will help in social, real world, and academic situations.

10. Help your child feel comfortable in and knowledgeable about the world.